


Not Dead Yet

by passeri



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Destiny 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 03:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12123720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/passeri/pseuds/passeri
Summary: In the aftermath of Ghaul's attack, Rom tries to get her bearings and reckon with the damage that's been done.





	Not Dead Yet

 

“Careful there,” Orion’s voice wavered, but the ghost’s nerves were still palpable.  He flickered about weakly — the once brightly painted shell he’d been ornamented with scuffed, cracked, and hovering low.  He’d always been small, but now he looked fragile. Still, he directed his concern at Rom as she stood hunched over a rusted water basin.  In the flickering lights of the dingy warehouse tension locked up the wiry muscles of her body. She gripped the edge of the basin tightly, knuckles white where the skin wasn’t torn, and swore as free flowing blood from her face dripped into the water.  She lifted a hand to the long gash, a deep gouge running from her temple to her chin, and wiped at it despite the sting.  In the water’s reflection she could see the damage that had been done: a haunted face caked in blood and ash with bruises blossoming beneath the surface of the skin stared back at her.  It betrayed her desire to stay calm and she hated the sight of it. She grimaced, dropping her hand to the water and distorting the image, so that she could wash the blood away from her fingers.

She hardly felt like speaking, afraid it might betray her in the same way that her reflection did. When she found her voice it came out ragged,” I need to find some bandages, at least until someone can give me some stitches.  Keep an eye out for anything we can use when we get out of here yea?”  The pragmatism she was shooting for failed to manifest. The lingering pain, in all its unfamiliarity, was tripping her up. She’d been exhausted before, exerted herself to the point of collapse. Hell, even death was a familiar enough sensation given everything she’d been thrown at under the vanguards guidance.  Still, this felt different— she felt heavy in a way that she’d never experienced in the years since her first resurrection.  When the traveler’s light had flowed through her the struggles that came with being a guardian had seemed surmountable.  Temporary.  The realization that there would be no such recovery as she was now— as all guardians were now hit her hard. They were lightless; and without a home.

So what were they?  

The pit in her stomach extended to her heart, and from the corner of her eye she could see Orion’s small figure mimic her distress. “Rom… I’m sorry.  I wish I could do more to help you,” he whirred.

She gave him a weak smile and turned her attention back to the water, splashing it in her face to clear away some of the grime.  Even after all this time of him being her constant shadow, the sensation was strange to her. They were separate beings, felt different things; but even in the absence of the traveler’s pull he was still there: as much a part of her as her own heart. She reached out to him, cupping her hand beneath him so that he could drop into her palm, which he did with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. Sighing she said, “There’s a lot I wish I could do Ori. First, we need to get you to safety.  We can figure out where to go from there. What,” she motioned to their dismal surroundings, “any of this means anymore.” The image of the last city in flames was burned into her brain.  The walls that had protected humanity for far longer than she’d been alive had been torn down, the tower she had called home destroyed.  When she stopped to think of what had happened to her friends, the people she considered family, a fresh wave of panic rose inside of her.

Orion cut her off before she it could consume her, bringing her back to earth and grounding her among their miserable circumstance. He said, “We need to get  _us both_ to safety.  I can’t bring you back like this so just shove me in your backpack or whatever you have and keep your head low. But yes, bandages would be a smart start.  You might have a scar… or two by the time this is all over, but scars are a step up from being a corpse.” Held in her hand he seemed more at ease, as if the simple act could keep him safer.  It still scared her how easily she had almost lost him, how simple it would have been for her to have never found him again.  It would have to be enough for the moment that they were both still there, together. There wasn’t time yet to dwell on everything that they had lost. She set him down on the edge of the water basin— though he quickly lifted-up on his own to consider the muddied water— so that she could pull her gloves back on.  They were torn, like much of the rest of her armor, but the small act still helped her feel as though she was better prepared to move on.

“Do I at least look a little tougher than I feel right now?” she said.

Orion regarded her cautiously, weighing his options. “You look… experienced? Yes. Experienced.”

Rom laughed despite herself and drew in a long breath for what felt like the first time since they’d first seen the state of The Last City.  Her lungs burned with the hollow sound— a testament to her injuries more than the ash that clung to the air— but she was grateful for the attempt at humor.  “Right then, lets hope that experience gets us out of here in one piece.”

Orion left the basin’s edge, circling her slowly before disappearing beneath the ragged edge of her cloak. “Well, think of it this way, looking like this you might just scare any Cabal you see to death.”  

Her laugh felt more genuine this time. “I thought that was supposed to be your job Ori, you are after all the ghost in this situation,” she said. He grumbled from his hiding place, but made no further protest.  She knew it was time to go, but she braced herself against the exit in case she didn’t have a chance to reassure him later.  “Trust me Orion, I will get you out of here.”

The worry crept back into his voice, “You nearly died when they threw you off that ship. If you had… that would have been it Rom.”

She closed her eyes and balled her fists up against the cracked plaster. “I should have been dead several times over Orion.  I have been dead.  It’s never been permanent yet,” she said.

Orion materialized again, lighting the darkened hallway she’d yet to enter, but focusing his attention on her, “You’ve never been without the traveler’s light before either, but… well let’s hope that luck holds out.”

She cracked a smile and took a step forward, “One way or another we’re going to get out of this. Together. After that we can give them hell.”


End file.
